Integrating language documentation, language revitalization, and linguistic research: a case study from the Amazon

Lecture by Rosa Vallejos Yopan

This talk focuses on the significance of documenting language interaction for language revitalization and linguistic research. Across the social sciences, responsibility to the communities with which the research­er is engaged has become a central theme. In linguistics, there is growing consensus that researchers, particularly those working in endangered language communities, have a responsibility to engage in community-based research models. One of the major forces driving the field of documentary linguistics is the need to create a lasting record of languages that can be useful to both speakers and linguists. Interactional data from natural settings shows not only patterns of language use, but also is full of situated meanings, language attitudes and cultural knowledge. For little-known languages, such a culturally relevant corpus serves as empirically reliable data for linguistic theory, and as a resource for language preservation and revitalization efforts.

This lecture is part of a search to fill the Language and Culture position sponsored by LLILAS, in conjunction with the Departments of Spanish and Portuguese, and Linguistics.